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Valeria Donovan
'''"My cousins and I used to be like siblings. But you know how it goes. We grew up, and apart. They gave birth to kids and stuff, and I started looking for something that would... I don't know. I guess I needed something to fill the void in my heart, cliche as it sounds." '- Val to Gizem '' Valeria Cherie Donovan is the only daughter of Claire Donovan, and the niece of Claudia and Joshua Donovan. While she is not directly involved in her aunt's work, she has unknowingly always been a part of the supernatural world. Her father inherited her his siren genes, which made her the ideal candidate for the illegal experiment that gave her her part-time fishtail. Val's Story Valeria was born as the first and only child of Claire Marie Donovan, a musician and dancing teacher. She’s the result of a one night stand, and her mother chose not to reveal anything about her existence to her father, or to her about him. That plan seemed to work out well for Claire, until Val reached her teenage years. The girl became more curious, insistent and at the same time keen on pushing her career. Said career began for the girl at the tender age of 6, when a casting agent came to her mother’s studio looking for a young ballerina for a commercial. Claire was hesitant about it, but Val was so excited that her motherly pride outweighed her concerns. She’d been one of these girls dreaming of the Broadway back in the 90’s, and she didn’t want to deny Valeria any chances. Under the condition that her focus remained on school as she got older, Claire agreed to support Valeria’s career as an actress, later model and occasional singer and dancer. By the time she was 11 she’d landed her first starring role in a movie, and when she turned 16 she was officially hired by an expensive fashion label. When she was 18, she went to New York with her cousin, Claire, to study at the local university alongside the other girl. For her, it was like a cage. The only reason she stayed there was her cousin, who was also her roommate then. But when Claire and James got married, Claire moved out and Valeria deemed staying in NYC senseless. Valeria had always been keen on avoiding her mother’s “freaky family history”, until that became an impossible task. What started with a regular casting near the beach in Los Angeles, ended with the young woman tied and gagged in an underground laboratory. Her kidnappers claimed that Valeria had a specific gene they needed for one of their illegal experiments, and she immediately decided that she must’ve gotten it from her mother. Many months later, it turned out that she might’ve been wrong, but for the time being she blamed Claire for what she had to endure. After several injections and hours of unconsciousness underwater, she found herself breathing in the ocean and with a mermaid’s tail where her legs belong. A photographer names Suraya found her on the beach hours later. To her luck, the other woman happened to not be entirely human herself, so she knew how to handle the situation. She hid Valeria, dried her off and started working out what happened with the redhead. A strong friendship was built during that time. Once Valeria had overcome the initial shock and told her cousin Claire what happened, she decided to travel around under the radar. She was as keen as ever on figuring out who she really was, starting with her father. Skipping through countries and making money with photoshoots, she prepared herself for the day she’d find him. She used every trick she knew with computers, and although she wasn’t half as good at it as her aunt, she did find him in the end. He resided in a hotel in Las Vegas, seemingly permanently. She forbid herself to consider what that might mean, and booked the next flight to Nevada. The first time she looked into her father’s eyes, they sat at a poker table together. She just watched him, struggling to contain her surprise when she realized he could control the other players through softly whistled tunes. Everyone backed out when he wanted them to, except for her. She seemed to be immune to whatever he did to them. Val wanted to confront him, but when they finally exchanged words near the exit, she couldn’t do more than spit out accusations and, with her last words, reveal their relation and her name to him. She left Vegas after that incident, realizing that she hadn’t been as ready as she thought. Her next destination was New Orleans. She spent the days blaming herself for being stupid enough to let her first encounter with her father end this way, and the nights getting drunk in clubs. One morning, she woke up on an unfamiliar sofa. It turned out that a woman around her age named Gizem had found her wasted in the corner of the club she bartended at, and decided to take her home with her. Considering the way they met, the girls got along surprisingly well. When Gizem expressed a romantic interest in Valeria, the redhead found herself agreeing. While she’d never dated a girl before, it didn’t feel any less right than it had with her last boyfriend back in high school, so she chose not to question it much. They were together for over six months and altogether things were going great, but Valeria didn’t want to scare her girlfriend away with her secrets. She hid a lot from Gizem, and the young woman quickly noticed that. Eventually, she had enough of Val’s lies and ended their relationship. The break-up hit Valeria harder than she expected, and she craved a distraction. She remembered her father and his manipulation tactics, and went to find the closest casino. Once she got the hang of her power, almost every game was a safe bet for her. It was intoxicating to see what she could do, and how the others reacted. It was fun, she earned money and felt the powers running through her veins. If only she’d known what a dangerous combination that was. She won too often for the taste of the casino’s owner, so she was banned from the place. Originally, she intended to just drop it and find something new to occupy her mind, but she quickly started to miss the thrill. Without being fully aware of why she was doing it, she returned to Las Vegas. It took a second, unplanned meeting with her father for the young woman to realize she’d developed the same addiction he suffered from. He shook her awake, telling her she should get it under control while she still could. It was their first real conversation as father and daughter, as she poured her heart out to him and he did his best to calm her down. ...TBC... Physical Appearance Valeria is 5'8 feet (1.73 m) tall, and has fiery red hair that falls beyond her slender shoulders. She inherited the honey brown eyes from her mother and aunt. Her skin is rather pale in comparison to her father’s typical suntan. Skills & Powers Valeria has always been good a good actress. Very few people, like her cousin Claire and her ex-girlfriend Gizem, even realize when she’s lying to them. In front of the camera, she lets emotions she doesn’t even feel pour into her expression. She also inherited her mother’s feeling for rhythm and her singing voice. Her favorite sports to practice are skating, swimming and basketball. All in all, the redhead is a fit young woman with a Hollywood-worthy set of talents. However, not every side of her fits right into that scene. Although she didn’t know it until recently, Valeria was born as a siren. She can lure people with her voice, or by whistling a certain tune. Her victims quickly feel drawn to her. She can’t read or control their minds, but she can affect their state of mind. A certain song or order can make them feel a certain way. For example, Val’s father never told the other players at the table to drop out of the game, he just made them feel hopeless. No matter how good their chances actually were, they were suddenly convinced they couldn’t win. Her inner mermaid allows her to control fluids to a specific degree. She can move it, shape it and change its temperature to turn it into ice or gas. In her mermaid form her powers are particularly strong. She even managed to create water a few times, but she’s still trying to figure out how to do that without having to grow a tail for it. The redhead can also communicate with other creatures of the sea through their own “language”. Personality & Habits In public, Valeria is a real extrovert. She comes across as confident, talkative and damn near shameless. A lot of people think she’s a typical, sassy party girl. However, her heart is more guarded than they’ll ever know. She acts like she loves herself and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, because she doesn’t want anyone to realize that she has deep, consuming insecurities. Not about her appearance, but about her personality. She’s scared of being seen as shallow or dumb. She walks around with a metaphorical mask all day, because she’s afraid her real self wouldn’t deserve love or acceptance. Very few people know her true self these days. It doesn’t help her lacking self-esteem that she inherited her father’s destructive tendency to develop addictions. It was Ramon who pointed out her gambling problem, recognizing his own issues in his daughter’s behavior. She craves things she can’t have, and Vegas filled the void. She’s struggling to defeat her addiction, and has sworn off alcohol upon her dad’s suggestion to avoid gaining another. Relationships Claire Donovan (mother) Claire raised the younger redhead pretty much on her own, so they were close when the girl was younger. However, their relationship got complicated when Valeria reached her teens, and started pressing for answers. These days, Val blames Claire for 90% of the things that go wrong in her life. Ramon Rivero (father) For roughly two decades, Valeria had no idea who her biological father was. When she eventually tracked him down, she discovered that she inherited not only his addictive tendencies, but also his “siren gene”, which was the reason she was chosen for the experiment that turned her into a part-time mermaid. Their relationship is rather strained, but she still blames her mother for that. Claire, Cordelia & Olivia-Darina Jinks; Jeffrey & Grace Donovan (cousins) Out of all her cousins, Valeria is the closest to Claire, followed by Grace. The girls spent a lot of time together as kids, and although they grew apart as the years passed by, they’re still like the sisters the redhead never really had. Grace had been the first to step back from the group, but eventually all three of them chose their separate ways in life. They never completely lost contact to one another though. Valeria likes to send letters with photos to them whenever she travels somewhere, which is almost always these days. Joshua Donovan & Claudia Donovan-Jinks (uncle & aunt) Valeria doesn’t know her uncle very well, since he disappeared when she was still too young to make real memories and they didn’t see each other often since his return. Her aunt, however, used to be a confidant to her. They would play the guitar and sing together, and Claudia would tell her all she could remember about Claire as a kid. But when things got tense between Val and her mother, she knew her aunt would be on Claire’s side. That strained their relationship a little, but not half as much as Valeria and Claire’s. They just don’t talk much anymore. Gizem Demir (ex-girlfriend) Val and Gem dated for roughly half a year. The redhead kept returning to New Orleans for the other girl, and she even took her with her for a few of her journeys. Valeria cared deeply about her girlfriend, but she couldn’t help keeping her secrets. That’s what eventually caused Gizem to walk out on her. Suraya Everett (close friend) Suraya was the one who found Valeria on the beach after she firstly turned into a mermaid. She has siren-like abilities herself, and eagerly helped the redhead to figure out what happened to her and how she could control it. They remained in contact after Val left LA. '' @The13thSymphony.png PicsArt 05-10-02.15.35.png PicsArt 05-10-02.32.20.png '' Category:Donovan Family Category:Original Characters Category:Female Characters Category:All Characters Category:Rivero Family Category:Belladonna's Blossoms Category:Born: 2010s Category:Born: August Category:2nd Generation Category:Sirens Category:Mermaids Category:Characters: Beyond Human